The Great North American Afghan

I am now on block 13 of The Great North American Afghan. However, I skipped block #12 since the needles in my hands at the end of block 11 were the same size needed for block 13, I bypassed #12 until a later time. A precursor to each block is thoroughly reading the instructions and typing them up to fit my knitting style. I usually type up several blocks at a time so that I don't have to stop between blocks and type some more.

Knitting this afghan is a journey for me. Each block on average is taking 6-8 hours of my time. But the beauty that grows with each row is so exciting that I can barely wait to get to the next block. With all the other activities that go on this time of year, I don't expect to get this afghan completed before Christmas. The blocks that are done will have to go into a box and and I.O.U. on the top. The recipient will just have to settle for an unfinished afghan with the expectation of getting it before summer arrives.

Meanwhile on the farm, we didn't expose our ewes to the rams until Dec. 1. While having early babies was fun this past year, we bred late in hopes that we lose fewer lambs since the weather should be more agreeable to lambing in April and May. The ewes are so fat and sassy right now.

In spite of space between the Shetland/Finns and the Border/Bluefaced Leicesters, Galahad, the B/B L ram has been standing at the fence jealously eyeing Bob the Babydoll/Finn's flock. Bob is a cutie. He is friendly and easy with the girls as well as easy to handle when time comes to remove from the flock. Galahad is also easy to remove from the flock with a call to come. So like a big dog, he lumbers to the space given to rams that no longer need to be with the ewes.

Now to get back to knitting Christmas. I do not see anyway possible to get everything knitted or stitched before Christmas, but I will do what I can to get as much as possible completed before the big day. In the meantime, onward and forward!